Exam 1 - Errors Flashcards
What is a medication error?
Any preventable event that may cause/lead to inappropriate med use or pt harm
Occurs when medication is in control of any of the following:
- healthcare professional
- patient
- consumer
What does MICRO patient safety involve?
Looking at a whole patient
- abbreviations
- labeling
- dispensing meds
- admin
What does MACRO patient safety involve?
Just culture
System processes
What is a medication misadventure?
Any unintended and harmful event involving medication
Includes:
Errors
ADRs
Side effects
Can occur during prescribing, dispensing, or admin
What does medication misadventure encompass?
All forms of med related incidents, whether they’re preventable or not
Adverse drug event (ADE)
Unexpected SE to a drug that is NOT expected
What can ADEs result from?
Medication errors
ADRs
Overdoses
These can occur during prescribing, dispensing, or admin
Adverse drug reaction (ADR)
Reaction to a med that is considered a risk or SE
ADRs are NOT due to ____
Errors
(They are SEs or risks that are expected when taking the drug — you didn’t do anything wrong, it just happens sometimes)
What is a close call/near miss?
Event/situation that COULD have resulted in harm to a pt but did NOT
Happens either by chance or because it was caught and corrected before causing damage
Why are close calls and near misses important to analyze?
The reveal potential system weaknesses/risks in medication process that could lead to harm if they are not addressed
(If something bad could’ve happened because of a weak spot in the system, eventually it will happen)
What are look-alike, sound alike meds (LASA) related to
Names of products or packaging
Who publishes the List of Confused Drug Names?
Institute of Safe Medication Practices (ISMP)
What safeguards should be used to reduce risk of LASA med errors?
- Use both brand AND generic names on rx and labels
- Include purpose of med on rx
- Require at least 5 letters to be typed into computer systems (like when you’re inputting the drug)
- Changing appearance of look-alike products
Tall man lettering (TML)
Uses uppercase lettering to distinguish the differences between sound-alike drug names
Also uses color or bolding of words
What did the FDA do in 2001?
Started a name differentiation project that determines if TML should be used on specific products
What are high alert medications?
Meds w/ a heightened risk of resulting in significant pt harm or sentinel events when used in error
What happens in the FDA determined that TML should be used on a product?
FDA requests mfr to make a voluntary label change
Adds drug to FDA list of Established Drug Names Recommended to Use Tall Man Lettering
What do high alert meds require to reduce risk of errors?
Special safeguards
Example of hazardous drugs
Chemotherapy agents
Examples of high alert medications
Opioids (risk of addiction and OD)
Insulin (requires precise and pt specific dosing)
Anticoagulants (too high of dose = high risk of bleeds)
Neuromuscular blocking agents (pyrantel is one of these – it paralyzes worms so it makes sense for it to be high alert)
What are hazardous drugs?
Studies in animals or humans show that exposure has potential for causing:
- cancer
- developmental/reproductive toxicities
- genotoxicity
- harm to organs
(Don’t Get Canned Ham)